Notre Dame, This Is What A Principled Pro-Life Stand Looks Like

“Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville said he will not attend an April right-to-life dinner where Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, is scheduled to speak because he objects to comments the GOP leader made about abortion.

The bishop’s decision followed a widely circulated March GQ magazine interview in which Steele, a Catholic, was asked if he thinks women have the right to choose abortion. He answered, “Yeah. I mean, again, I think that’s an individual choice.”

Following publication of the interview, Steele issued a statement, saying “I am pro-life, always have been, always will be.” He went on to say that “the Republican Party is and will continue to be the party of life.” He said he supports the Republican platform that calls for a Human Life Amendment.

After speaking with Steele on the phone March 20, and after examining the statement issued by Steele after the GQ interview, Bishop Gettelfinger wrote in a letter to the head of the organization sponsoring the dinner that his “early decision not to attend still stands.”

He said Steele’s answer seemed to emanate “from a political stance, not a principled one.”

“The principled answer for us is that there can be no equivocation,” Bishop Gettelfinger continued. “Intentional abortion is an act of killing the unborn. There is no room for choice in this deadly matter. Mr. Steele assiduously avoids such strong language.”” The full story is here.

There are some battles too important for partisanship and too important for playing the usual liberal-conservative games. The battle for the right to life is just such a fight. Catholics should tolerate no equivocation on this issue from those who seek or hold political power in this nation. Those who oppose the right to life of the unborn should receive zero support from Catholics, whether they have a “D” or an “R” after their names.

15 Responses to Notre Dame, This Is What A Principled Pro-Life Stand Looks Like

I support the bishop in his stance. I especially respect that he spoke personally with Steele before making this decision. I think it would be important for him to make specific demands of Steele in order to relent, and I suspect he has. This IS dialogue, I wish the Pres. of Notre Dame and his shills would have this type of faithfulness to teaching.

Actually I think the Notre Dame situation is rather worse due to Obama giving the commencement address and receiving an honorary degree. I do not believe that Steele was going to receive any honors at this dinner and was merely one of the scheduled speakers, although the Bishop was quite right to draw the line. In the case of Obama both the commencement address and the degree are rightly perceived as honors. If he were to be giving a speech on foreign policy for example, with no honors being accorded him, I would have no problem with him doing so at Notre Dame or any other Catholic college. If he were to engage in a debate on the issue of abortion my answer would be the same.